I do HL7 interfaces between healthcare systems. Almost weekly the same people contact me saying “the interfaces are down”.
Me: “Things are up, and messages are flowing”
Them: “But we’re not seeing updates in the other system”
Me: “Did you reach out to their support?”
Them: “They’d just tell us to check out side first”
Me: “We’ll weren’t actively sending messages”
Them: “But I’m not seeing the status change we documented”
Me: “What patient did you document on?”
Them: “Pt XYZ”
Me: “Yup, we sent that message 45 minutes ago and the other system acknowledged/accepted it”
Them: "Then why arent we seeing it?
Me: “Check with their support…”
20 minutes later, yeah there was an issue in the other system. This was a weekly conversation, same users, same applications, same results.
But my favorite variant of this conversation is the one where they eventually realize that the reason they’re not seeing data in the other system is because…the nurse never documented on that patient. Happened too many times